Sunday, May 22, 2011

I am so very sorry that I have not kept my promise to post more regularly. There have been spot fires all through this week....and I have struggled to keep to keep on top of them. Posting has not been at the top of the list of late. With all that aside......

The delightful Katie Ridden, whom I met through Crafter's Anonymous last year, celebrated her birthday last week. We have the same (extremely) bent take on the world and share many laughs. She recently took a very brave step and moved from NT to Denmark in WA. I had no idea of Katie's fave colours or stamp set, but I did have so much fun recently playing with Heartfelt Thanks, that I decided to give it another whirl!!! I was quite taken with this card on SCS, but wanted to put my own wee twist on it...and here's what I came up with......

Now yes...you are NOT seeing things....I got my CRIMPER out....shock horror!!!! (now all I need to do is use my brayer that I purchased over 9 months ago and still have not used!!!) Whilst I liked my version of the card...to me it was still missing something....so I did the only thing I cloud...I pimped my own card!!! This is what Katie received.....

I fiddled with the 2nd step of the process a little to make it stand out a little more and added 3 half pearls...and then I was happy!!! I love dry embossing and added with the crimper and the MS punch...it was a tactile joy!!! I also liked the slightly darker outline on the flower.

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After Katie had received it (and thankfully loved it) she shared with me that the stamp set I used was the very FIRST one she got through SU....how freaky is that. Just as well I do freaky OK too.

Thanks for popping by again. I really hope that things settle soon for all that I love out there and those whose hearts are heavy. I will be back again real soon.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Please forgive my tardiness over these past 10 days. I have so much going on at the moment it is hard to keep up. Perhaps the best thing that has happened is that I have become and Aunty again, last Friday (13th) to little Pippa Lee Burke....a beautiful baby girl to my SIL Neridah and hubby Gary. She is the cherished reward at the end of a rollercoaster journey. We visited her on Saturday, but sadly my camera was not playing nice and the pics I have are not that FAB, but here she is.....

So I think that it is fitting that I (finally) post my Mother's Day card. My MIL has a beautiful garden and I really wanted to do something special. both she and Poppy do so much for us....it was the least I could do. I had not done a Tri Shutter card for some time and I really loved playing with "A Rose is a Rose" set again. This is what I came up with........

I teamed it up with the Bella Rose (now retired....sniff) DSP and got the Nesties out again. I mounted the rosebuds on dimensionals as they framed the "Mum". It is also a little hard to see, but I stamped off a rose and leaves that you can JUST see under the Mum. (I think the Pink Pirouette Rose got lost in the glare of the sun!!)

These cards have such a WOW factor when opened.....and this is my attempt at WOW....

This card accompanied a rose bush in the same colours as the card.....as hubby after much prompting STILL forgot to get anything!!! At least it looked as if some thought went into it (hope she doesn't read my blog...LOL). Needless to say our wedding anniversary (which also fell on Mother's day was forgotten).

My children woke me with the blinding turning on of the bedroom light...v v eager to share their purchases from the school's Mother's Day Stall. Here is what I received.....

Miss 6 gave me the VERY blingy earings and 10 min Makeover Body Shop voucher and Mast 10 gave me a new coffee mug for work, complete with Tim Tams and a Vegemite sachet....for that Brekky in bed!! Now for all those SU folk out there....am I crazy in thinking that the pattern on the mug closely resembles the large flower from Fabulous Flowers (08-09 I B&C...pg 79 for those playing at home)?????

Thanks for popping by and I will endeavour to try and post a little more regularly.....sanity pending.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Firstly...I have a small boast. Thanks (in part) to Debbie P, I have had and received comments from my first international folk!!!! I joined a blog hop this week for TCM and their beautiful new stamp release. Long story short, my 2 new visitors are from the US...so I feel very special and privileged.

This week, my kids have had a Mother's Day stall at school. I made some 3 x 3 note cards (a size I do not do often) and was chuffed with how they turned out. I actually found out that I used a lot of scrap DSP and offcuts....so perhaps may dabble more in the future.

Now in Sydney (since before Good Friday) we have had a LOT of rain and very few days of sun in between. I had to take these pics on a towel, as there was nothing dry around I could lay them flat on where the light was good!!! Here are the tags I did.

And a close up in groups......

I continued my compulsion with not making two the same. I also (I think) started out too enthusiastically. I stamped the large rose from Fifth Avenue Floral on the CS, then realised it was too flat and plain. I nearly chucked them out...then had an epiphany.

I decided to use the first image as a silhouette for the rose from "A Rose is a Rose" set. Worked a treat!! Don't you ALWAYS get the best ideas at 2AM????

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. I am putting the finishing touches on my MIL's card and I hope to share that with you soon.

Given all the bits and pieces, I am not going to list all of the supplies used. However if you have and questions, please feel free to leave it int he comments and I will answer.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

A short time ago, one of my beautiful blogging buddies celebrated a chronologic advancement in time. She does BEAUTIFUL digi and rubber images. I was trying to think of a card that may meet the high standards she produces herself. I was busting to try out some of my vintage stamps and inks that I got at a craft show (that were gathering dust patiently waiting). The ladies that I am going to show you today are from an English company called Crafty Individuals and these are the gals.....

Each one of them is just over an inch and a bit square.....or you can stamp them all together. This is my first card that I did with them.....

Very happy with the first attempt as was the recipient (phew). I did realise (too late however) that the flowers should have been set a tad higher so that the card could stand properly!!! Taking this into consideration.....I used the other 2 images and also a different colour palate and made these....

Each card is ever so slightly different. Here are these 3 close up.....

The paper flowers are stamped with a very fine script block stamp and sponged to age them a little. The edges of the CS are also sponged to age them....like this.....

I hope you like them. I had so much fun doing them together. I think you can expect a couple more showings of these ladies.